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3. Lionel Messi

The only things missing from Lionel Messi's season were enough trophies; quite a statement considering Barcelona won the Spanish Supercup, the Club World Cup and the Copa del Rey. The Barcelona squad, including Messi are used to winning more though. On a personal level, he was unstoppable, becoming the Champions League top goalscorer for a fourth time in a row and setting a new La Liga record for goals in a season with 50. On March 20, Messi scored a hat-trick against Granada that made him Barcelona's all-time leading goalscorer in official competitions. The diminutive Argentine struck an astonishing 73 times in 60 matches to break the record for most goals in a single European campaign, while also providing 29 assists during that period.

Moment of the Season - The second of his three goals against Granada during Barcelona's 5-3 win in March that wrote his name in the club's record books as it made him the all-time leading goalscorer in official competitions, breaking the previous record of 232 held by club legend Cesar Rodriguez.

2011-12 STATS

GAMES

GOALS

ASSISTS

BARCELONA

60

73

29

ARGENTINA

9

9

2

TOTAL

69

82

31

Editor's view - "Even though Barcelona failed to retain La Liga and the Champions League, he still had his best season with the Catalan giants. To comfortably surpass Gerd Muller's record of 67 goals in a European campaign will go down as one of the greatest achievements in football. Will anyone beat Lionel Messi's record of 73 goals in one season? I doubt it, unless Messi can surpass his own record." - Luis Herrera - Deputy Editor for Goal.com Spain